1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information management. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for the selective persistence of metadata in information management.
2. The Relevant Technology
As entities in general become more centered on electronic data, the ability to manage the electronic data becomes crucial for a wide variety of different reasons. Email is often used for communication, calendaring applications are maintained electronically, data is created and stored electronically, paper-based methods of doing business are being replaced with electronic methods. Because of the focus on electronic data, the amount of electronic data that is now generated by an entity can become quite large and therefore difficult to manage. In fact, many organizations today are unable to fully understand what their data is or what there data represents. Much of the electronic data maintained by an entity or organization often relates to different aspects of the entity and often is subject to various considerations. Some of the electronic data is of little or no value to the entity.
Often, the data's value to the entity is not readily know and the services required for the data is not necessarily known. For example, an entity may have a file storage system that it backs up on a regular basis. However, there may be many files on the file storage system that have little or no value to the entity. As a result, the entity is often paying for services that are not required. Further, there may be files that contain certain information that subjects those files to certain regulations. Because the content of those files is often unknown, the files are not receiving adequate services, thereby subjecting the entity to potential liability.
More generally, there are a number of different factors that may determine how certain data is handled or that determine the services that are needed for the data. Some of the factors or considerations include data security, data backup, data retention, data access control, regulatory compliance, corporate compliance, and the like or any combination thereof.
The ability of an entity to provide these services in an efficient manner is not solely dependent on the data itself. In fact, the data often includes metadata as well. The metadata can often provide some insight as to what the corresponding data is, identify other aspects of the data, and the like. However, conventional systems are unable to take advantage of this information in a meaningful way that enables the efficient implementation of management services. As a result, the value of the underlying data and/or metadata effectively remains unknown. Further, conventional systems may be performing functions (such as processing metadata) that consumes computing resources in an inefficient way. As previously mentioned, performance enhancements can provide great advantages in the realm of information management because of the processing involved. Conserving computing resources in one area can result in benefits in other areas.
The problem faced by information management systems is to find a way to use the data and the metadata in a manner that is efficient and that conserves both time and computing resources. There is therefore a need to provide more efficient information management services.